Author’s notes: This makes connections to the Parts from Part Sixteen
onward, especially Parts Twenty and Twenty-Three. It really won’t make sense if
you haven’t read Part Twenty-Three.

Reminder: Kate Corrigan is not an original character of mine. She is a
character from the original comics that Guillermo del Toro opted not to use in
the film adaptation of Hellboy. What is original to me is the past
relationship I generate between Kate and Hellboy; in the original comics they
are shown to have a uniquely deep friendship as adults. Major Frank Dixon is an
original character of mine, first appearing in Chapter Four of Hellboy’s
Family.

The idea of giant rats derives from one of the short stories in Hellboy:
Odd Jobs, but how I use them connects more to the non-human characters in
the original comics who keep trying to remind Hellboy of his ‘true’ destiny. The
now disused Old Croton Aqueduct is filled with all sorts of underground
chambers. Even though Saint Nicholas Park was created during the construction of
the aqueduct and the presence of chambers would be plausible, I’m mostly making
up the stuff below.

Warning: Heed the ‘T’ (PG13) rating. Sexual attraction and activity
will be hinted at, but will never become graphic; language may become slightly
more emphatic, but still not a lot of swearing.

Chapter Five: Abe Sapien: Sibling Rivalry: Part Twenty-Four

Hellboy walked closer to Saint Nicholas Park and peered into the darkness.
Walking up to him, Abe handed back Kate’s hair clasp and placed an arm around
his shoulders. Abe could sense the tension thrumming through Hellboy’s body; the
overwhelming need to do something straightforwardly physical rather than waiting
for Abe to pore over another map. Patiently awaiting the results of painstaking
research was not one of Hellboy’s strongest virtues.

“Let’s get back to the truck, Red. The angle we are viewing this park does
not show the full extent of its size; as I recall from my maps, it may not be
very wide from east to west, but it is fourteen blocks long. Rushing right into
it will not help us find them any faster.”

With great reluctance, Hellboy turned away from the park that might contain
the location where Kate and Mindy were being imprisoned. Accompanied by the
other BPRD agents, Hellboy and Abe returned to the truck where Trevor Broom was
eagerly awaiting any information they might have found.

Broom may not have seemed as impatient as his adopted son, but Kate Corrigan
had been both the daughter of his late colleague and Broom’s protégée since age
nineteen; he felt a definite paternal anxiety where her welfare was concerned.
As Hellboy and Abe climbed back in, Broom stood up from the bench where he was
seated, immediately aware that something important had been discovered.

“Look what the cat dragged in, Pop.” Hellboy showed him the hair clasp, which
Broom recognized immediately as belonging to Kate. “The cute little thing
dropped it right at my feet. And it was white; just like Abe said it was going
to be.”

Broom turned toward Abe, who was already heading toward a bench-like table at
the front of the truck that was strewn with maps and other schematics. “Did this
help you discover anything further?”

“Yes, indeed, Professor,” Abe said as he seated himself at this table. “The
minute I touched that hair clasp I knew they were being held somewhere below the
surface of Saint Nicholas Park.”

Abe pulled out a detailed map of the underground structures in this park.
Broom bent over the table to look closer at this map. “How certain are you that
this park is the location?”

“Very certain, Professor. The impression I received from touching the hair
clasp was quite strong.” Abe gestured toward the map, “However, no matter how
clear this impression, I am as yet unable to conclude which of these underground
chambers is their exact location. I must ponder this further.”

Having collapsed on to the long bench where Broom had been seated earlier,
Hellboy slumped down nervously fidgeting with Kate’s hair clasp in his left
hand. Refraining from his earlier pacing, he tried to keep calm, eventually
slipping the clasp into an inner pocket of his coat to ensure its safekeeping.
Sensing that Hellboy needed some encouragement, Trevor Broom came and sat down
next to him.

Hellboy looked up as Broom sat, noting for the first time how exhausted his
adoptive father appeared. “Who knows how long Abe’s going to be, Father. This
bench pulls out into a kind of bed and I’ve seen blankets and stuff in one of
the storage bays. Why don’t you get some sleep?”

Broom shook his head. “I don’t think I could any more sleep right now with
Kate in trouble than I could when you were at death’s door last month in Boston.
It’s a comfort just to sit here with you and feel that Abe is accomplishing more
to track Kate and Mindy than we ever could. And I’m certain Walter Carlton is
sitting up, just as wide awake as I, awaiting any news of Mindy.”

As Broom finished speaking, Hellboy leaned in closer to him and buried his
face in the crook between Broom’s neck and shoulder. Feeling it wiser not to say
anything until Hellboy was calmer, Broom brought his arms up and held him tight.
Hellboy had not seemed this agitated during a field operation since he witnessed
his first man being killed when he was just short of his tenth birthday; this
had happened on his first trip with Trevor Broom to Argentina in November of
1954.

As he held on to Hellboy in much the same way as he had that time in
Argentina, Broom’s mind drifted back to the trip that began Hellboy’s career as
a monster hunter and paranormal investigator.

By the end of 1954, Bureau operations in Argentina seemed to be basically
under control; so Broom had decided to bring Hellboy, accompanied by other
senior agents, on one of his trips there. Unfortunately, as soon as they had
arrived to the BPRD’s secret mountain headquarters in Córdoba, they were
attacked without warning by a large group of hideous black creatures. Hellboy
was startled when the driver of their jeep, an agent he had been very close to,
was unexpectedly ripped to shreds right in front of him. Clinging to Trevor
Broom, Hellboy turned his face away from this terrifying sight.

Major Frank Dixon, one of the commanders in Argentina of the BPRD’s
operations against the Nazi occultists hiding there, had not been at all
impressed with the powerful-looking Hellboy’s reaction to this attack. Having
never met Hellboy before and only knowing a very little about him, Major Dixon
had no idea this 6’ 2” red-skinned, horned creature was basically an
inexperienced nine-year-old boy shrinking away from the slaughter of a man he
had cared for as an uncle.

Broom vividly recalled Hellboy pulling away from him at this criticism of
his actions. Turning to face Major Dixon, he swore he would never show fear
again if Dixon let him join the other men in fighting off the monstrous
creatures who were still attacking. Even though Hellboy was armed, it had not
been Broom’s original intention to have him join directly in the fighting on
that trip. But Hellboy was not about to allow his adoptive father to be in
jeopardy if he could protect him. And protect him he did; even to the point of
using his own body to shield Trevor Broom from the vicious attacks.

Hellboy became noted, even at that young age, as one of the most intrepid and
dauntless agents the BPRD possessed. Just as he had promised Major Dixon, who
became his first commanding officer in Argentina and one of his closest friends,
Hellboy never again exhibited fear during a mission.

Not, at least, until now, thought Broom as he sat with Hellboy. He
wished he knew the right words to help ease Hellboy’s anguish. Just as Broom was
thinking this he felt Hellboy stir. Hugging Broom so tightly he almost squeezed
the breath out of him, Hellboy whispered into his ear, “Thank you, Father.”

Broom sighed, wishing there was more he could have done to deserve Hellboy’s
gratitude than just sit there on a bench with him. Almost as if Hellboy knew
what he was thinking, he sat up and smiled slightly at Broom. “You always manage
to be around when I need you the most, don’t you, Pop?”

Hellboy stood, stretched, and then sat back down with a sigh, “I feel so
useless, Father, so helpless. Haven’t felt this helpless since you had cancer
back in ’59. Right now I feel like tearing that entire park apart until I find
Kate and Mindy. I’m going to go crazy if something doesn’t happen soon.”

Broom wrapped his right arm around Hellboy’s shoulders, “I’m sure that Abe
will come up with something that will lead to their location, Son. Then you can
finally bust into that chamber, tear apart as many of those wretched rats as you
desire, and, of course, rescue Kate and Mindy in the process.”

This rather violent statement spoken in the dry British accent of the usually
pacifist Broom made Hellboy look down at him. “You’re just as worried about Kate
as I am, aren’t you, Pop?”

“Of course, I am, Son. And even though we don’t know her as well as we know
Kate, I am sure we are both just as worried about Mindy Carlton.”

Hellboy nodded, “It’s bad enough these bastard rats had to grab Kate just
because she knows me. But, in a way, it’s even worse with Mindy; the poor kid
only met me once and look where it got her.”

Still having his arm around Hellboy, Broom yawned wearily and passed his left
hand over his face. Hellboy shifted and laid Broom’s head on his shoulder.
“C’mon, Pop, close your eyes for a little bit. It’s not going to do you any good
if you wear yourself out.”

Even though it felt so good to lay his head down and close his eyes, Broom
still did not fall asleep. Instead he found himself thinking over everything
that had happened in those eight weeks since they first discovered Abraham
Sapien. He also was beginning to wonder about the current status of Hellboy’s
relationship with Kate Corrigan. The realization was beginning to dawn on him
that Hellboy’s feelings for Kate were now much deeper than brotherly affection.

For a while Hellboy hoped that Broom had, indeed, fallen asleep. But it
wasn’t long before he felt Broom lift his head off of his shoulder and sit up.
“Still can’t sleep, huh, Pop? Wish you’d try.”

“I did try,” Broom said with a shrug. “It just didn’t work very well.” He
looked up at Hellboy who was obviously just as sleepless as he was himself.
“Son, I know this may not be the best time in the world to bring this up, but if
there’s something you need to talk about I’m ready to listen. There really can
be no excuse for me putting you off because I was engrossed in working with Abe.
No wonder you were so upset with the amount of time I was spending with him;
please forgive me.”

For the first time in what seemed like days, Hellboy laughed. “Jeez, Pop, if
that’s the worst thing I’ll ever have to forgive you for…” Leaving the statement
unfinished, he hesitated for a moment before going on. “Kate; I wanted to talk
to you about Kate.”

“I thought maybe that was it.” Grinning shyly at Hellboy, Broom blushed
slightly before continuing, “After all, Kate is not actually your sister; she
has developed into an attractive young woman and you, despite your own
reservations, are not unattractive yourself. When did all this start?”

Grinning back, Hellboy couldn’t help finding this unexpected ‘birds-and-bees’
conversation amusing, “It sort of started at that Halloween party. Wouldn’t have
even crossed my mind, though, if Kate hadn’t started kissing me first. We
haven’t seen each other since that party, so it hasn’t really gone much of
anywhere; at least not yet.”

Broom gave Hellboy an appraising look, “How serious is this infatuation, Son?
I suppose I should have entertained the idea of something like this happening
between you. This is undoubtedly an issue I should have addressed before it came
to this advanced stage.”

Standing up from the bench, the grin fell from Hellboy’s face. “You don’t
approve,” he stated flatly.

Still seated, Broom shook his head. “Son, don’t put words in my mouth; at
this point I neither approve nor disapprove. I don’t have much experience in
this aspect of life; things have changed so greatly since I was younger. Are you
sure you are reading Kate’s signals accurately?”

Abe, still struggling to clarify the impressions gathered from Kate’s hair
clasp, had barely registered the ebb and flow of silence and conversation
between Broom and Hellboy. Suddenly becoming aware that their conversation had
changed into something more discordant, he looked up from his maps.

“Look, Pop,” Hellboy snapped, “Maybe I don’t have ‘much experience in this
aspect of life’ either, but I’m not stupid. When Kate said she wouldn’t mind
having ‘a little romance’ with me, she meant a hell of a lot more than sitting
under some dumb tree reading mushy poetry to each other. I don’t …”

Broom flinched, almost as if he had been slapped, “Please, don’t say another
word. I …” his voice, already almost inaudible, trailed off. He took a deep
breath, “I need to go out and get some air.”

Abe, having dropped a large portion of his carefully constructed mental
shields in his telepathic search for Kate and Mindy, found himself unexpectedly
overwhelmed by a tide of intense emotions radiating from Trevor Broom. But what
came through was not so much anger as profound grief.

Before Hellboy could even react to the tension that had developed between
them, Trevor Broom got up from the bench and climbed out of the still open rear
door of the parked truck onto the sidewalk. Hellboy couldn’t quite make out what
the two agents guarding the truck said to Broom, but he heard Broom’s reply,
“Leave me; I wish to be alone.” Broom’s footsteps then retreated into the
distance.

“Smooth move, Red,” Hellboy swung around at Abe’s voice, “Did you ever
consider that maybe a young Professor Broom did sit under a ‘dumb tree reading
mushy poetry’ to someone? A woman he was engaged to marry and who died before he
even got much beyond some passionate kissing?”

“Shit, I forgot about that,” Hellboy groaned. He then began to follow after
Trevor Broom.

Abe tried to stop him. “I think it may be wiser to wait for the Professor to
calm down, Red.”

“It’s not safe in this neighborhood this late after midnight,” Hellboy
countered, “Must be three in the morning by now.” Stopping only to throw on the
cloak he had worn when he met Walter Carlton, Hellboy climbed out of the truck
and found out from the agents in which direction Broom had walked.

These agents were supposed to accompany Hellboy everywhere he went, but they
didn’t need to be psychic to figure out that there had been some sort of
altercation between Hellboy and the Professor. Wisely, they decided it would be
better to let Hellboy follow his father than to risk trying to stop him.

Trevor Broom, with little conscious intent on his part, had crossed Saint
Nicholas Avenue and ended up walking in the same direction that Hellboy and Abe
had gone when they encountered the white cat. Finding that he was fighting a
losing battle against tears, Broom stopped just past the darkened recesses of
the entrance to the Harlem School of the Arts. He was so distracted as to be
unaware of Hellboy’s approach; Hellboy could walk very quietly when he chose.

As Hellboy drew nearer, he could hear the sound of weeping. This sound cut
through him like a knife.

When he had been very young, there were times when he inadvertently caused
his adoptive father pain because of the disproportionate size of his stone hand.
When he became older there were times when he had said things in anger to Broom
that he immediately regretted saying. For some reason Hellboy couldn’t quite
fathom, what had happened between them just now seemed far worse.

As open as Broom had always been in showing Hellboy the extent of his love,
he still had a tendency toward a very British reserve in dealing with his more
negative emotions. Hellboy could barely remember a time when he had heard Broom
weeping quite so vehemently.

Broom was even more distraught than when Hellboy had found him in tears
praying in the chapel on the morning of November 1st—the morning after that
fateful Halloween party. This thought served to remind Hellboy that one of the
things his adoptive father had been grieving over that morning was the long-ago
death of the only woman he had ever loved. Broom had so seldom referred to this
old grief that Hellboy didn’t even know her name.

Noting that Broom still seemed to be unaware of having been followed, Hellboy
ducked into the darkness of the oddly angled entrance of the art school. From
there he could still keep a watchful eye on Broom without intruding his possibly
unwelcome presence. With the hood up, his black cloak made him almost invisible
in that dark corner; an unseen guard insuring that none molested Trevor Broom.

After a while Broom’s sobs died down and he just stood, unmoving. He
eventually disentwined the rosary he always had wrapped around his right wrist
and began to pray silently. Hellboy had himself memorized the entirety of the
rosary prayers when Broom had been hospitalized in 1959; he assumed that Broom
was probably reciting the portion entitled the ‘Sorrowful Mysteries’.

As Hellboy stood guard, an odd memory started to push its way into his mind;
a memory of being lost in a freezing darkness uncertain of his identity or even
of his sheer existence. There had been a terrible voice claiming him as son—a
voice as cold and suffocating as the darkness surrounding him.

Hellboy had only one anchor to hold on to in this nightmare that was no
nightmare, but was a hideous, life-threatening reality he seemed unable to
escape: it was another voice—a very different voice from the dark, evil voice of
the demon possessing him. It was a voice that wept and prayed—rebuking the demon
that had taken his son from him; begging his beloved son to return to him.

Regardless of Father Ed Kelly’s powerful exorcisms or the excellent medical
care to be had in the Boston BPRD Medical Wing, Hellboy knew he had eventually
been saved by Trevor Boom’s great love and absolute refusal to let any demon, no
matter how potent, take his son from him. Yet, it was not until this moment of
standing on a sidewalk in Harlem, listening to his father weep, that Hellboy
could consciously recall very much from those four days in November when he had
lain trapped in a coma.

“Father, I never meant to hurt you,” he muttered, “Oh, God, how can it be so
easy to hurt someone when you don’t even mean to?” He didn’t realize he had
spoken aloud until he saw Trevor Broom’s back stiffen in surprise at the
unexpected voice.

“Son, it is easier to hurt those you care for than those who mean little to
you,” Broom replied quietly, without turning to face him. “It is important to
remember this if you truly wish to have a romantic relationship with Kate; or
with any woman, for that matter.” He returned to his interrupted prayers.

Just as Hellboy was contemplating stepping out from the corner, there came a
tiny mew of pain. Looking down, he noted that he had managed to tread on the
tail of the little dirty white cat that had mysteriously produced Kate’s hair
clasp earlier. Hellboy picked up the not quite full-grown cat and held it gently
in his stone hand. The cat promptly curled up in the palm of this huge hand and
started to groom itself, purring loudly; this contrast between bright red and
dirty white interested Hellboy.

In the past, the only pet Hellboy ever had was a dog that Broom purchased for
him when they resided in New Mexico. However, Mac, as Hellboy named this dog,
had to remain behind when Broom and Hellboy moved to Washington, D.C. just after
Hellboy’s fifth birthday. After the move to Boston at the end of 1950, having
pets just didn’t seem practical; especially when Hellboy began spending so much
time in Argentina after 1954.

Hellboy was surprised, that unlike most stray cats, this cat did not dash
away in fear. It just seemed to enjoy the attention he was giving it. When he
started petting it with his left hand, the cat purred even more loudly, rubbing
itself against the stone fingers of the huge hand that held it.

“So, is that the mysterious white cat prophesied so fervently by Abe?”

Hellboy looked up from the cat he was petting; he had been so engrossed with
it he hadn’t noticed Trevor Broom had completed his prayers. “Yeah, it’s that
cat. Kind of looks hungry to me and I’d like to bring it back to the truck; see
if I can find some food for it.” Hellboy looked into his father’s face and then
looked away. He didn’t like seeing the obvious traces of tears that were still
there.

Hellboy placed the cat into one of the large pockets of his cloak, where it
seemed perfectly contented to stay. Broom started to walk back in the direction
toward the truck when Hellboy stopped him. “Father, I’m so sorry and somehow it
seems even worse that I don’t even know her name.”

“Elizabeth; Lady Elizabeth Colton,” Broom spoke in a voice so low that
Hellboy had to listen closely to hear him, “And she was a ‘lady’ in every sense
of that word; more beautiful than I ever deserved and with an extraordinary mind
as well. Since she was not yet twenty-one when she agreed to marry me, her
father was able to insist on a separation. My own family had some claims to
aristocracy, but the ennoblement gained by my grandfather on the field of battle
and in the fields of Arctic exploration was not high enough for Elizabeth’s
father whose noble title was an inherited one.”

Broom touched the rosary that he again had wrapped about his wrist. “Her
father also highly disapproved of my chosen career of ‘dabbling in things the
Good Lord meant us to stay away from’ and of my conversion from the true
Anglican faith to ‘that wretched Papist nonsense’.”

Blinking away tears that threatened to fall once again, Broom went on,
“Elizabeth and I had never officially broken off the engagement. We planned on
marrying after she turned twenty-one and her father could no longer interfere.
Her inheritance was directly entailed and her father could not even disinherit
her in disapproval. She, of course, died during our time of separation. I had
gone overseas, both to further my own researches and to distract myself from the
pain of that separation. By the time I found out of her illness, it was too late
to get back to England. I even missed the funeral.”

Pulling out a handkerchief from a vest pocket, Broom blew his nose. “Son,
don’t blame yourself for what happened. It was a terrible combination of frayed
nerves, ill timing on my part, and ill-judged comments on both our parts. It was
certainly not your intention to trample any memories that were sacred to me of
my relationship with Elizabeth. This pain is an old one not caused by you, even
if what you said caused it to resurge. It amazes me how much her loss can still
hurt after forty years.”

Reaching out, Hellboy pulled Trevor Broom into a bone-crunching bear hug.
However, a muffled ‘mew’ of displeasure from the cat still ensconced in the
pocket of Hellboy’s cloak caused him to release Broom before he either bruised
Broom’s ribs or inadvertently crushed the cat.

Broom smiled at Hellboy, “Let’s get back to the truck. I’ll send an agent to
look for cat food and litter. There should be one of those 24-hr convenience
stores around here somewhere.”

Hellboy looked over at Broom as they walked, “Litter, huh? You’ll let me keep
the cat? I wouldn’t mind having a pet again, you know. Kind of missed it when we
had to leave Mac in New Mexico.”

“Son, I think a cat would be a perfect pet for you to have in an underground
facility. I’ll get Lee to make sure the FBI won’t interfere. What are you going
to name it?”

Hellboy gently stroked the cat in his pocket with his left hand. “Lucky; I
think I’ll call it Lucky. Certainly brought us some good luck, didn’t it?”

When they returned to the truck, Broom stopped to speak to an agent about
picking up supplies for the unexpected new pet. Hellboy climbed into the truck
to find Abe impatiently awaiting his return.

“I hope you’ve made it up with the Professor, Red, but I’m glad you finally
decided to wander back here. I think I could use your help. I’m just not getting
anywhere with these idiotic maps.”

“Pop’s okay; not really mad at me to begin with. I’ll tell you about it
later; I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you knew what he just told me.” Hellboy
looked at Abe who seemed even more exhausted then he had been before. “What kind
of help do you need from me, anyway? I don’t see that there’s much I can do
expect tear those stupid rats apart when you finally figure out where they are
hiding.”

Trevor Broom had just re-entered the truck as Abe replied to Hellboy. “Look,
Red, I seem to only be able to just get so far and then it’s like I hit this
weird wall. The hair clasp helped immensely, but I still feel like I’m groping
for an abstraction. I’m just not getting enough sense of the reality of Kate or
Mindy to be able to establish the psychic link that I need. You know both of
them, especially Kate, in a way that I do not. Allow me complete access to your
mind and your memories; that may be the one boost I need to break through that
wall.”

To Trevor Boom’s amazement Hellboy sank down on to the bench where they had
been seated earlier and dropped his head into his huge stone hand. “Ask me to do
anything else, Blue. Ask me to break down doors, beat the crap out of monsters,
or shoot the Samaritan at some terrifying black demon; just don’t ask me to do
that. I can’t do it; I just can’t.”

Broom knelt down next to him, “But this is for Kate, Son; won’t you do it for
Kate? You haven’t been afraid of anything since you were nine; what can be so
terrifying about letting Abe into your mind?”

Hellboy looked down at his huge stone hand. “There’s only one thing I’ve
really been afraid of, Father: your disappointment when you finally find out
what I truly am. Who knows what secret crap is really hidden deep inside my
mind? I’m afraid neither one of us will like what Abe finds if he digs too
deep.”